In Minnesota a boy named Trey suffered a traumatic brain injury that very nearly killed the teen.1 As a result of this injury Trey suffers migraines and pain so great that it hampers his daily functionality. The child turned to self-harm and eventually became suicidal because of the pain.
In an effort to help Trey, his mother traveled to Colorado to see if medical marijuana could help with the teen’s condition. The mother finally came across a cannibis oil that seemed to relieve Trey’s pain and muscle spasms.
The change was dramatic enough that Trey’s teachers even asked why her son seemed so much better.
When the mother answered the question honestly she faced horrified looks from the teachers.
A week later family services showed up at the school wanting to know how much the mother was making him smoke and how high she was making him get. When family services found out about the oil and the child’s circumstances, they dropped the case.
Later though the mother was charged with child endangerment counts carrying a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine.
Wow.
Larissa Rulle suffered brain damage during birth.2 From the age of two years old the child began experiencing around 60 seizures a day. The child’s doctors prescribed a range of medications (with terrible side effects including rashes, breathing problems and high heart rates) and even considered brain surgery.
It was then that the mother discovered that a daily dose of liquid cannabis had helped other children like Larissa.
After obtaining the liquid for free from a man who grows the plant for the sole purpose of aiding those in poverty conditions, Larissa’s parents began giving her a daily dose of the drug. Almost immediately the incidents of seizure dropped from 60 a day (some lasting an hour each) to around five (with each seizure lasting only about a minute).
Their “dealer” has been charged with cultivating and growing marijuana and faces prison time.
The mother was quoted as saying: “Without him, there are 200 families like us who will be without our medicine.”
She goes on to say “Giving our daughter marijuana is the best option. It’s our only hope.”
Kinda Star Wars-ey, but …
Nine medications had failed to help Genesis Rios’ two-year old son with his epileptic seizures3 when she began giving him cannabis oil. The boy experiences no side effects from the drug and has started walking more, interacting and trying to communicate.
Doctor Raman Sankar, Chief of Pediatric Neurology at Mattel Children’s Hospital of UCLA, related that the family made the decision in the face of dramatic failure and was quoted as saying: “I’m not endorsing it yet because I need more data, but I cannot hold it against somebody for trying something.”
I can’t either.
Mike Hyde, father of an infant with stage 4 brain cancer, injected cannabis oil into his son’s feeding tube4 and credits it with his child’s surprising recovery. Mr. Hyde only attempted adding the oil to his child’s feeding tube after several bouts of chemo, a stroke and septic shock. Physicians are annoyed by Mr. Hyde’s move, but the boy has since been weaned of all nausea drugs and was almost immediately eating, sitting up and laughing.
The Newser article goes on to say that the pot stopped the child from throwing up as many as 10 times a day and mentions an unnamed expert quoted as saying: Cannabis “certainly can increase appetite and improved mood … but the idea that it can cure cancer is ludicrous.”
That was okay … until I found this article headlined: “Federal Government Finally Admits Cannabis Can Help Kill Cancer Cells.5”
That article lead me to the National Institute on Drug Abuse website6 where I learned these facts:
“THC [tetrahydrocannabinol] increases appetite and reduces nausea. The FDA-approved THC-based medications are used for these purposes. THC may also decrease pain, inflammation (swelling and redness), and muscle control problems.”
“CBD [cannabidiol] is a cannabinoid that does not affect the mind or behavior. It may be useful in reducing pain and inflammation, controlling epileptic seizures, and possibly even treating mental illness and addictions.”
and;
“Recent animal studies have shown that marijuana extracts may help kill certain cancer cells and reduce the size of others. Evidence from one cell culture study suggests that purified extracts from whole-plant marijuana can slow the growth of cancer cells from one of the most serious types of brain tumors.”
Whoa. All this seems to confirm the “miracles” from the above stories.
Even the Surgeon General is now confirming medical marijuana’s worth.7
Dr. Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General, said in a TV interview that medical marijuana is effective for some medical conditions.
Given this pile of evidence, what kind of soulless bureaucrat would it take to oppose legalizing medical marijuana?
A NATIONAL NOTE:
Both Wyoming Senators Mike Enzi and John Barasso are opposing a proposed bipartisan bill in Congress that would remove federal prohibitions on medical marijuana in the 23 states where it is currently legal. The bill would also allow doctors at veterans’ hospitals to prescribe the drug for medical use and allow banks to provide routine financial resources to marijuana dispensaries.8
UW POLL SAYS “YES”
A 2014 University of Wyoming study shows that 72 percent of Wyoming residents support the adult use of marijuana if prescribed by a physician. Only 25 percent oppose.9
MISINFORMATION MUCH?
Not many people seem to really know what is going on with marijuana in Wyoming Here’s the truth:
HB 29, a bill to decriminalize marijuana by ticketing possession of less than an ounce, FAILED on the floor of the House.
HB 32: Hemp extract regulation—allowing the use of CBD oil for seizure treatment, has PASSED and been signed by the governor.
HB 78: Plant-derived pain medication—Allowing the use of marijuana-based pain medication, FAILED in a House committee.
HB109: Possession of controlled substances—Changes felony charges from third conviction of marijuana possession to the fourth. Passed the House but FAILED in the Senate.
HB187: Marihuana (their old-timey spelling) impact study—Calling for a study on marijuana’s effects, FAILED in the House.
SF38: First offense for possession—Allows deferred prosecution for those found guilty of being under the influence of a controlled substance for the first time. PASSED and signed by the governor10.
There are NO plans currently in the works for legalizing marijuana for recreational use in the state of Wyoming.
What is going on is that the Wyoming branch of NORML (National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws) is currently gathering signatures to get a measure legalizing medical cannabis before voters on the 2016 ballot11. The group needs 25,000 signatures from registered voters by February to get the medical cannabis initiative on the 2016 ballot but hopes to get 51,000 in case the Secretary of State disqualifies some signatures for improper voter registration.12 You can look up Wyoming NORML if you are interested in signing.
THERE IS A DEBATE
The Campbell County Prevention Council has fired up a website aimed at keeping marijuana illegal. The site even has the wonderfully fascist name “There is NO Debate.”13 Which, on the face of it, encourages folks to blindly follow without checking any facts. The entire basis of their argument is that marijuana normalization will increase teen use.
First off, no one is currently talking about legalizing recreational marijuana in Wyoming. Secondly, if we were talking about legalization, the argument that teen use will increase is, at the very least, debatable.
U.S. News and World Report14 did an article based on data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the biennial Healthy Kids Colorado survey and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that seems to show that not only did legalization cause teen marijuana usage to drop, but that pot use among Colorado teens was lower than the national average.
The University of Michigan and the National Institutes on Drug abuse put out a 2014 study15 that seems to corroborate the headline the Washington Post used in their article “Teen marijuana use falls as more states legalize16”
I have to admit that these “drop in use” numbers are statistically insignificant. What they do show is that outright legalization does not cause the upturn in marijuana use that legalization opponents (like “There is NO debate”) tell you will happen. I have heard it bandied that having to show documentation (age and/or medical) to obtain your cannabis actually reduces what kids can get their hands on versus the “I don’t care who you are, here you go” black market system we have in place now.
I have seen the resolution handed to Saratoga’s Town Council by the Chief of Police in support of the status quo; one featuring highly questionable “facts”. Fortunately, no one on the council deemed it worth signing.
I have to wonder why various police entities across Wyoming are so dead set against marijuana. Is it just control? Is there money in it? I honestly don’t have a good answer for that one.
Will there be abuses if we make it OK for these people in need get a new medicine? Sure there will. You should be aware there are abuses now along with a handful of good people going to jail for things that are only really called abuses.
I’m not going to tell you which way to vote if it comes to that, but I don’t think we should make criminals out of people in pain or the parents of children who are in need.
REFERENCES
3. ktla.com/2014/03/30/mother-tries-controversial-treatment-on-young-son-cannabis-oil-2/
4. http://www.newser.com/story/117964/dad-slips-pot-to-cancer-stricken-tot.html
6. http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/marijuana-medicine
7. dailycaller.com/2015/02/04/u-s-surgeon-general-confirms-that-medical-marijuana-works/
8. trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/wyoming-s-senators-oppose-medical-marijuana-bill-in-congress/article_adedce3d-41c3-5827-be5d-5c8f4c908985.html
9. http://www.uwyo.edu/uw/news/2014/12/wyoming-residents-disapprove-of-personal-marijuana-use.html
10. trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/topics-the-wyoming-legislature-considered-approved-and-rejected/article_06c10628-251f-5e83-ba33-7437d41e7436.html
11. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_QPyXMx51QdOGc0U1Q1MURaLWhrckxrQlNqMEZkQnQ5aXZR/view
12. http://www.sheridanmedia.com/news/medical-marijuana-initiative-launches-wyoming81042
13. http://www.campbellcountyprevention.org/there-is-no-debate/
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